"Ideology" is the term used to describe how people encapsulate their thoughts about government, specifically what it should and should not do. You would have see a definition of ideology in the previous section, the one on defining key terms, but this one is important enough to warrant its own section. This partly because people through the words "conservative" and "liberal" around so much to describe themselves and others - to say nothing of "socialist" and "libertarian." The problem is that often these terms are used incorrectly, or at least without an appreciation for their history. The simple goal of this section is to detail the development and meaning of these terms so we have a better understanding of them.
Goals
- You should have a clear idea about the role of ideology within a governing system.
- How did the disputes over the French Revolution help condition current disputes over the role of government in society?
- Have a firm understanding of the dispute between Edmund Burke and Thomas Paine. Their dispute seem very similar to the disputes we see now between conservatives and liberals.
- Understand the conflict between equality and hierarchy or tradition.
- Understand the political arguments for and against capitalism.
- Understand the conflict between classical liberalism and collectivist ideologies. What is a collectivist ideology?
Key Terms, Events and Concepts
Try to get comfortable with the following. Be able to understand what these mean so we can use them in conversation with some efficiency.
- the French Revolution
- state of nature
- social contract
- the enlightenment
- John Locke
- Edmund Burke
- Burkean Conservatism
- Thomas Paine
- left wing
- right wing
- conservatism
- liberalism
- hierarchy
- egalitarianism
- socialism
- communism
- fascism
- capitalism
- anarchism
- nationalism - liberty
- Tory
- whig
- classical liberalism
- Adam Smith
- libertarianism
- progressive movement
- Lockean Liberalism
- invisible hand of the marketplace
- public good
- collectivism
- individualism
- the Gilded Age
- populism - laissez-faire capitalism
- regulatory capitalism
- tradition - Old Right
- New Right
- reactionary
- movement conservatism
- fiscal conservatism
- social conservatism
- theoconservatism
- neoconservatism
- paleoconservatism
- centrist
- statis
- night watchman state
Power Points
This is the full set of slides - I'll wait on condensing these, but to make them easier I split the content into three text files below.
Here is Part One - The Roots of Political Dispute:
Here is Part Two - About those Isms
And here is Part Three - Ideology in the United States after WW2 (note that this is still a bit rough)
Description
"Ideology" is the term used to describe how people encapsulate their thoughts about government, specifically what it should and should not do. You would have see a definition of ideology in the previous section, the one on defining key terms, but this one is important enough to warrant its own section. This partly because people through the words "conservative" and "liberal" around so much to describe themselves and others - to say nothing of "socialist" and "libertarian." The problem is that often these terms are used incorrectly, or at least without an appreciation for their history. The simple goal of this section is to detail the development and meaning of these terms so we have a better understanding of them.
Goals
- You should have a clear idea about the role of ideology within a governing system.
- How did the disputes over the French Revolution help condition current disputes over the role of government in society?
- Have a firm understanding of the dispute between Edmund Burke and Thomas Paine. Their dispute seem very similar to the disputes we see now between conservatives and liberals.
- Understand the conflict between equality and hierarchy or tradition.
- Understand the political arguments for and against capitalism.
- Understand the conflict between classical liberalism and collectivist ideologies. What is a collectivist ideology?
Key Terms, Events and Concepts
Try to get comfortable with the following. Be able to understand what these mean so we can use them in conversation with some efficiency.
- the French Revolution- state of nature
- social contract
- the enlightenment
- John Locke
- Edmund Burke
- Burkean Conservatism
- Thomas Paine
- left wing
- right wing
- conservatism
- liberalism
- hierarchy
- egalitarianism
- socialism
- communism
- fascism
- capitalism
- anarchism
- nationalism
- liberty
- Tory
- whig
- classical liberalism
- Adam Smith
- libertarianism
- progressive movement
- Lockean Liberalism
- invisible hand of the marketplace
- public good
- collectivism
- individualism
- the Gilded Age
- populism
- laissez-faire capitalism
- regulatory capitalism
- tradition
- Old Right
- New Right
- reactionary
- movement conservatism
- fiscal conservatism
- social conservatism
- theoconservatism
- neoconservatism
- paleoconservatism
- centrist
- statis
- night watchman state